NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Recovery Operations: Orion Crew Heat Shield Images

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Recovery Operations: Orion Crew Heat Shield

NASA Artemis II Orion crew spacecraft heat shield after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California (diver photo)

NASA Artemis II Orion crew module after being offloaded from the well deck of USS John P. Murtha at Naval Base San Diego

NASA Artemis II Orion crew module rotated for inspection inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

Shortly after NASA's Artemis II splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion crew spacecraft’s heat shield for NASA's inspection. The Artemis II Orion crew module can also be seen after being offloaded from the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha at Naval Base San Diego and lifted from the Orion Recovery Cradle Assembly on April 18, 2026. 

The recessed areas, or smaller concentric circles, seen on the heat shield are associated with the separation bolts that connect the crew module with the service module. The larger circular patterns are formed due to compression pad material used within this location of the spacecraft, creating flow disturbances caused by extreme aerodynamic and thermal airflow during reentry. This causes increased heating locally and therefore Avcoat ablator thickness is increased in these areas by design.

The Artemis II Mission involved a ten-day test flight that carried NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen 252,756 miles from Earth before splashing down off the coast of San Diego. This mission tested Orion’s life-support, navigation, and deep-space systems and set the stage for future U.S.-crewed lunar landings and, eventually, the first missions to Mars.

Learn more at: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii

Image Credits: NASA/Kevin Davis, United States Navy
Image Dates: April 11 & 18, 2026, June 8, 2026

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